Help with wood stove (newbie) Hearthstone I

So my wife and just bought this house in Rhode Island. It came with this wood stove. My last house i burned coal. So basically i have no idea how to use this stove lol. I think the damper is on the left side on top. I tried using it at night and every morning its out. I don't know if i am doing something wrong. I turn the thermostat on the back all the way down. The stove does heat up the house nice. Any info or tips would be great. Thanks for you help everyone

It looks like an old Hearthstone Soapstone stove. I very expensive stove in it's day, but basically a big box that will put out nice heat and burn a long time if all of the gaskets are tight and you've got the right wood. Problem is that it is so old that it probably needs new gaskets around all the doors and anyplace else air might leak in.

I'm guessing it burns nice and hot and it's maybe getting more air than it needs.

Also, have you had the chimney inspected and cleaned? I'd get someone to do that and make sure you've got a safe install. A flue damper might help slow down the draft and give you longer burns, but I'd start with the stove inspection.

The thermostat assembly is missing. You'll want to restore that. You can see the damper action by moving the lever lever back and forth. One direction opens the flap, the other closes it. In the current position it is open.

Take a couple shots (with your phone camera held horizontally) of the interior of the stove. In particular I want to see the secondary tube and in another shot, the baffle area.

PE Alderlea T6 - the gentle giant, Jotul 602“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.” - Mark Twain -
"A poor worker always blames his tools." - Dad

The ash pan can be letting more air in which will eat up the wood leaving you with nothing in the morning as you have stated. I would see about getting that fixed along with all of the other gaskets and see what that does. Did the previous owner say anything about how the stove worked? Do you know if they used it regularly?

They lady we got the house off had no clue, she was divorced and never used it, the husband did. I did notice this on the right side a frying pan looking this, i have it on my old coal stove too, but this one, even closed you can see an 1/4" gap. It looks like someone took a bunch of washer to it. I am guessing this could be a prob too. We have our old coal stove with us, we just where giving the wood stove a shot. Think the coal stove might go in next winter. Thanks for your help everyone

That should be the secondary air intake. If the stove is in good working order you want to have that port open. It looks like it's closed now. Maybe the secondary tube is trashed. We'll need inside pics to see.

Moving this thread over to the classics where another couple Hearthstone Is were recently discussed. Take a look at the photos of this one in posting #68 for comparison to your stove.

PE Alderlea T6 - the gentle giant, Jotul 602“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.” - Mark Twain -
"A poor worker always blames his tools." - Dad

it's a great stove but if your looking for a all night burn out of it your out of luck. i had a long talk with the hearthstone woodtech guy jim casavant. what he told me was it would not burn all night. get a stove thermometer and don't run it above 600 degrees. put the thermometer in the center of the center stone on top. it will burn clean above 500 but i have had it stuffed with oak and could only get 5 hours out it. same with black locust. maple burn between 3 and 4 hours and pine no more than 2 hours. it's a stove that needs to be constantly kept hot to run efficiently because it takes 1 to 1.5 hours to come up to temp because of the stones. but can throw heat for two hours after the fire is out.
rich you are the only person that i have heard run coal in it. how did it work on coal? how long did it last on a load?

it's a great stove but if your looking for a all night burn out of it your out of luck. i had a long talk with the hearthstone woodtech guy jim casavant. what he told me was it would not burn all night. get a stove thermometer and don't run it above 600 degrees. put the thermometer in the center of the center stone on top. it will burn clean above 500 but i have had it stuffed with oak and could only get 5 hours out it. same with black locust. maple burn between 3 and 4 hours and pine no more than 2 hours. it's a stove that needs to be constantly kept hot to run efficiently because it takes 1 to 1.5 hours to come up to temp because of the stones. but can throw heat for two hours after the fire is out.
rich you are the only person that i have heard run coal in it. how did it work on coal? how long did it last on a load?

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Jim told you right.It won't burn all night on wood six or seven hours is about it.I also had a pipe damper to eek out more heat time.With the coal it'll burn 16hours sometimes 20 as long as you tend to the ash.The stove is a wood/coal stove.Originaly it came with a coal burning kit.Mine came used without the kit so I used some fireplace grates in it.I took out the metal plate which covered the ash pan and put the grates over the openning.I used a poker to stir the coal and let the ash fall into the ash pan below.It worked great giving off great heat.I eventually burned up the insides after years of use and sold the stove to a fellar who was into rebuilding soapstone stoves.

rich
in your opinion do you think that it was burnt out from the coal or temp to high? i'd get a lot more use out of it if i could get more than 5 hours out of it. my stove was all burnt out when i bought it, but it was only burning wood. i've had it at 650 700 degrees a few times (not purposely) and it didn't do anything to it. i thought if i could get to burn coal it would be good for me. do you remember what stove your grates came out of?

rich
in your opinion do you think that it was burnt out from the coal or temp to high? i'd get a lot more use out of it if i could get more than 5 hours out of it. my stove was all burnt out when i bought it, but it was only burning wood. i've had it at 650 700 degrees a few times (not purposely) and it didn't do anything to it. i thought if i could get to burn coal it would be good for me. do you remember what stove your grates came out of?

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I think the coal burnt it out.I think the coal kit would have went up the sides of the stove to protect the innards.As I mentioned a friend gave me the grates.They were used in a fireplace not a stove.The coal even eventually ate up the grates.I was looking at the grates at home depot used in barbeque grills but never tried them as a replacement.Try putting in a pipe damper for more heat times.See if it helps.They cost about seven bucks.I put one in my mansfield and just about double the heat life.

So my wife and just bought this house in Rhode Island. It came with this wood stove. My last house i burned coal. So basically i have no idea how to use this stove lol. I think the damper is on the left side on top. I tried using it at night and every morning its out. I don't know if i am doing something wrong. I turn the thermostat on the back all the way down. The stove does heat up the house nice. Any info or tips would be great. Thanks for you help everyone

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Welcome to the wonderful world of Hearthstone. I bought a 1984 model (after years of VC stoves) and love it. Mine needs some new internals (baffle, damper) but still runs great. Definitely tighten up/replace the gaskets also I found that checking all the joints and sealing those that leak helps. Once you get a fire going take a lighter and put it up to all the joints to see where it sucks in the flame. Some can be sealed with furnace cement, some might need a rebuild. Definitely the ash tray door - I replaced the gasket and it made a huge difference. If you don't have a damper on the air intake you need one. The secondary air works great with the damper down IF the baffle and damper are in relatively good shape.

I think the coal burnt it out.I think the coal kit would have went up the sides of the stove to protect the innards.As I mentioned a friend gave me the grates.They were used in a fireplace not a stove.The coal even eventually ate up the grates.I was looking at the grates at home depot used in barbeque grills but never tried them as a replacement.Try putting in a pipe damper for more heat times.See if it helps.They cost about seven bucks.I put one in my mansfield and just about double the heat life.